President Obama made it through the State of the Union surprisingly meme-free. Most viewers changed the channel or turned off the TV, but the lucky ones kept watching for Marco Rubio’s Republican Response to the State of the Union Address. Those who had patience were soon rewarded with the most awkward sip of water taken on live television.
The rebuttal was bound to receive less coverage than the initial Sate of the Union. Rubio needed to counter the president point-by-point in a clear, concise way to encourage news outlets to cover his party’s counter. Any points he had made were clearly forgotten and the horrible water break became the real story.

Videos of The Sip hit YouTube and the views have taken off. At least five videos have more than 50,000 views, two with more than 100,000. Over one million people combined have watched and laughed at Marco Rubio water bottle videos. And of course there were the memes.

But the news isn’t another politician looking flustered on TV. It’s the fantastic response by Rubio and his people. Rubio has laughed off the incident by acknowledging that everyone makes mistakes and his PAC has started selling Marco Rubio water bottles, for the thirsty republican.

This product is the perfect example of making lemons with lemonade. Most donors emptied their pockets during the election and haven’t felt inclined to give since the last campaign ad stopped airing. Now, republicans are breaking out their credit cards for an election almost four years away for a candidate that hasn’t announced that he’s running.

“Send the liberal detractors a message that not only does Marco Rubio inspire you…he hydrates you too.”

I know I said two days ago to let the meme generating trolls of the world have their fun because your message will last past their jokes, but sometimes you need to embrace the Internet’s ridicule and turn a potential media disaster into a profitable win for your brand.

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